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Category Archives: fruits

I know it’s not strawberry season, but for some reason when I walked through Whole Foods this weekend and saw the cartons of strawberries, I couldn’t help but grab one right away. It’s probably the fact that the weather has been so spectacular lately. Today is March 1st, a time of the year when it is often still frigid and snowing, yet for the past couple weeks, the northeast has been blessed with beautiful sunny days in the 50s and up. I even turned my A/C on in the car this weekend! And walked outside with a long sleeve shirt on! So when I saw those bright red strawberries, I immediately started thinking about what I could do with them. I knew that I had to bake a cake during the weekend, so a lightbulb went off instantly – I would make a vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberry filling.

I love being able to make a basic sauce like this strawberry sauce because the possibilities with it are endless. And we all know how much I love a versatile ingredient. Sure, I used this sauce as a cake filling. But this sauce also works great as a filling in a cupcake, as a sauce to incorporate into (or top) your vanilla ice cream, or even as a filling in doughnuts! Mmmmmm. Now excuse me while I go wipe the drool off my face!

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you use it for in the comments below.

Strawberry Sauce(Makes 2 cups)

2 1/2 cups cubed fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

In a small saucepan, combine the strawberries and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the cornstarch and continue to stir. Let boil for 2 minutes and remove from heat. The sauce will thicken and go from translucent to opaque. Allow to cool completely before using.

For the past year or so, I’ve grown to love fruit smoothies. I don’t go overboard with the ingredients either. The way I see it, if I have a way to get fruit, juice, and yogurt in my belly before 10am, that’s 100% A-okay. I have these smoothies pretty regularly for breakfast, and I also love to have them as a post-workout “snack”.

I also love making smoothies because it’s pretty impossible to mess it up. Pretty much any and all combinations work. Whatever juice, fruit, or yogurt I have in the house, I can throw it in the blender and (somehow) it always comes out delicious. Today I’m sharing three (yes, three!) different smoothies. But again, use these recipes as just a base – feel free to include, or leave out, whatever fruit you’d like!